Place des Vosges
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Place des Vosges

The beautiful place des Vosges, along rue des Francs-Bourgeois east of the Musée Carnavalet, is a masterpiece of aristocratic elegance and the first example of planned development in the history of Paris. It's a vast square of symmetrical pink brick and stone mansions built over arcades. Undertaken in 1605 at the inspiration of Henri IV, it was inaugurated in 1612 for the wedding of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria; it is Louis's statue – or, rather, a replica of it – that stands hidden by chestnut trees in the middle of the grass and gravel gardens. Originally called place Royale, it was renamed Vosges in 1800 in honour of the département, which was the first to pay its share of the expenses of the revolutionary wars.

Royal patronage of the area goes back to the days when a royal palace, the Hôtel des Tournelles, stood on the north side of what is now the place des Vosges. It remained in use until 1559, having served also as the residence of the Duke of Bedford when he governed northern France in the name of England in the 1420s. Catherine de Médicis had the Hôtel des Tournelles demolished after the death of her husband Henri II in 1559 and the vacant space became a huge horse market, trading between one and two thousand horses every Saturday. So it remained until Henri IV decided on the construction of his place Royale.

Through all the vicissitudes of history, the place has never lost its cachet as a smart address. Today, well-heeled Parisians pause in the arcades at art, antique and fashion shops, and lunch alfresco at the restaurants while buskers play classical music. In the garden, toddlers, octogenarians, workers and schoolchildren on lunch breaks sit or play in the only green space of any size in the locality – unusually for Paris, you're allowed to sprawl on the grass.

Among the many celebrities who made their homes here was Victor Hugo; his house, at no. 6, where he wrote much of Les Misérables, is now a museum, the Maison de Victor Hugo (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; closed hols; free; M° Chemin-Vert/Bastille), in which a whole room is devoted to posters of its various stage adaptations. Hugo was extraordinarily multi-talented: as well as writing, he drew – many of his ink drawings are exhibited – and designed his own furniture; he even put together the extraordinary Chinese-style dining room on display here. That apart, the usual portraits, manuscripts and memorabilia shed sparse light on the man and his work, particularly if you don't read French.

From the southwest corner of the place, a door leads through to the formal Château garden, orangerie and exquisite Renaissance facade of the Hôtel de Sully. The garden, with its park benches, makes for a peaceful rest-stop, or you can pass through the building, nodding at the sphinxes on the stairs, as a pleasing short cut to rue St-Antoine. Temporary photographic exhibitions, usually with social, historical or anthropological themes, are mounted in the hôtel by the Mission du Patrimoine Photographique (Tues–Sun 10am–6.30pm; €4). You can also browse in the bookshop with its extensive collection of books on Paris, some in English (Tues–Sun 10am–7pm).

A short distance back to the west along rue St-Antoine, almost opposite the sixteenth-century church of St-Paul, which was inaugurated by Cardinal Richelieu, you'll find another square. A complete contrast to the imposing formality of the place des Vosges, the tiny place du Marché-Ste-Catherine is a perfect example of that other great French architectural talent: an unerring eye for the intimate, the small-scale, the apparently accidental, and the irresistibly charming.